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18,033 Posts
Before I begin, I would like to take this opportunity to give Nigel and his lovely wife Sarah my heart felt thanks who literally had to bend over backwards to get this registered and taxed yesterday (friday) due to an all mighty 'f' up on my part with the private reg.
Couple of immediate points I noticed:
Off boost - the engine has a lot more 'grunt' meaning that if you are a fan of the traffic light olympics then you will love the way it reaches 2.7-2.8k revs in no time.
That brings me onto the next point, boost kicks in at around 2.7k revs - in the MR that was around 3k so another bonus.
As for on-boost, this does not have the rawness of the MR FQ340 and is very linear but it is still gives a tremendous surge of power all the way upto 5000 revs. I have no doubt that it is capable of reaching a lot higher than 5000 revs but I dare not take it up above there until I do at least another few hundred miles.
Handling - only done 200 miles at the moment so its hard to tell. It definitely feels a lot more planted than the MR (I did have some serious issues with the MR FQ340 but the EVO IX seems to have completely eliminated the handling problems I encountered). One another note, the rear of the car is noticably lower than the front by quite a margin so it will be interesting to see how it compares when I start using the car in anger.
Ok onto the those 'front holes' that everyone has been speculating about, it looks like it is not for the air intake or brake ducting as suggested. It clearly seems to be feeding the intercooler in some way but no doubt Nick from NR autosport will confirm this once he is let loose on the car.
Rear diffuser - it's made from black plastic and not carbon fibre as some people thought. I also noticed that the rear port for the exhaust is significantlly larger than the EVO 8 & 8MR and I would be indeed surprised if the APS 3.5" will foul on the diffuser due to the generous gap provided. I compared this with PhilG's evo (who has an APS 3.5") and we may be wrong but it looks like the APS 3.5 will fit fine.
Rear lights - this caught me by surprise; unlike the EVO 8 MR the rear clusters are not smoked but they are not completely clear as in the EVO 8 - I would say veering towards the VIII with a hint of grey about them.
Recaro Seats - brilliant! You sit slightly lower down in comparison to the EVO VIII MR and they are definitely tighter, a few evo owners have sat in it today and they all agree. It also brings the gear stick slightly higher up making it a lot more comfortable when changing gears (but I'm a short arse so that might explain it a bit).
Onto the gearbox and I have to admit I am very very impressed - as its a new car you would expect a little tightness but this gearbox is a complete dream compared to the EVO 8 MR. Very tight, very slick and it hammers into those respective gears very smoothly (something that was not possible in the 8 MR).
Anyway enough of this burble, I only wanted to make a few initial points so onto the pictures (took at PhilG's car wash).
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Couple of immediate points I noticed:
Off boost - the engine has a lot more 'grunt' meaning that if you are a fan of the traffic light olympics then you will love the way it reaches 2.7-2.8k revs in no time.
That brings me onto the next point, boost kicks in at around 2.7k revs - in the MR that was around 3k so another bonus.
As for on-boost, this does not have the rawness of the MR FQ340 and is very linear but it is still gives a tremendous surge of power all the way upto 5000 revs. I have no doubt that it is capable of reaching a lot higher than 5000 revs but I dare not take it up above there until I do at least another few hundred miles.
Handling - only done 200 miles at the moment so its hard to tell. It definitely feels a lot more planted than the MR (I did have some serious issues with the MR FQ340 but the EVO IX seems to have completely eliminated the handling problems I encountered). One another note, the rear of the car is noticably lower than the front by quite a margin so it will be interesting to see how it compares when I start using the car in anger.
Ok onto the those 'front holes' that everyone has been speculating about, it looks like it is not for the air intake or brake ducting as suggested. It clearly seems to be feeding the intercooler in some way but no doubt Nick from NR autosport will confirm this once he is let loose on the car.
Rear diffuser - it's made from black plastic and not carbon fibre as some people thought. I also noticed that the rear port for the exhaust is significantlly larger than the EVO 8 & 8MR and I would be indeed surprised if the APS 3.5" will foul on the diffuser due to the generous gap provided. I compared this with PhilG's evo (who has an APS 3.5") and we may be wrong but it looks like the APS 3.5 will fit fine.
Rear lights - this caught me by surprise; unlike the EVO 8 MR the rear clusters are not smoked but they are not completely clear as in the EVO 8 - I would say veering towards the VIII with a hint of grey about them.
Recaro Seats - brilliant! You sit slightly lower down in comparison to the EVO VIII MR and they are definitely tighter, a few evo owners have sat in it today and they all agree. It also brings the gear stick slightly higher up making it a lot more comfortable when changing gears (but I'm a short arse so that might explain it a bit).
Onto the gearbox and I have to admit I am very very impressed - as its a new car you would expect a little tightness but this gearbox is a complete dream compared to the EVO 8 MR. Very tight, very slick and it hammers into those respective gears very smoothly (something that was not possible in the 8 MR).
Anyway enough of this burble, I only wanted to make a few initial points so onto the pictures (took at PhilG's car wash).
